British Judge rules that Lauri Love can be extradited to the United States on hacking charges

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London today, District Judge Nina Tempia granted the United States’ request to extradite British student and activist Lauri Love from the UK. According to Motherboard, Judge Tempia said, “I will be extraditing Mr Love, by which I mean I will be passing the case to the Secretary of State.”

Sarah Harrison, director of the Courage Foundation, which runs Lauri Love’s defence fund and support campaign, responded to the news:

This is a very disappointing ruling, not just for Lauri and his family but for everyone who was angry about what happened to Gary McKinnon. Clear assurances were given that legal changes would prevent the McKinnon situation from happening again and frankly, if the forum bar can’t help Lauri Love, it’s very difficult to understand how it could ever help anyone. This is not what the public was led to believe at the time and it’s not something we should stand for.

I know that Lauri’s legal team will apply to appeal this ruling, and the Courage Foundation will continue to support Lauri until his safety is assured.

Outside of the courtroom, after the ruling was announced, Lauri spoke to the press and public. According to the Guardian, Lauri said, “If you have come for justice then you have missed it.”

I’m not going to comment too much, because I haven’t read [the full ruling], and I have to. I want to thank everyone for their support, and to thank the judge for giving us the opportunity to win at a higher court and set a stronger precedent. I think this only helps the cause of supporting better justice, but it’s unfortunate for me and my family that we have to go through another six months or a year of legal stuff, but it’s what we have to do.

“Lauri is going to appeal through U.K. counsel,” his American counsel, Tor Ekeland, told Vocativ. “Obviously we are all disappointed but this is not over.”

Karen Todner, Lauri’s UK solicitor, told the Guardian, “I feel awfully disappointed. I thought we had done enough. I’m hopeful that the higher courts will consider the human rights issues.” She said the appeal process could take more than a year.